‘Their opinion’ - Frank Lampard makes Everton fans claim after Bournemouth defeat

Frank Lampard insisted that the travelling Everton fans’ opinions ‘were right’ after they watched their club suffer a second defeat to AFC Bournemouth within a week.

The Toffees lost 4-1 to the Cherries in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday at the Vitality Stadium. Lampard changed his entire starting line-up for that clash and gave fringe players run-outs.

Everton had been expected to improve markedly for the Premier League encounter on the south coast. And despite Lampard restoring his key players to the team - including the likes of Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Conor Coady and Alex Iwobi - the Blues succumbed to a humbling 3-0 loss.

As a result, the away supporters were irate at the full-time whistle - which Lampard could understand.

The Everton chief said at his post-match press conference: “Poor performance, poor result - very clear. Not good enough for Everton.

“Firstly, the fans have a right to be disappointed because they’ve come down here twice this week and seen poor performances and before that, we’ve been going OK. And then they see that there are performances that they don’t like.

“So when we’re pleased they’re happy after [Crystal] Palace – and when we’re pleased they give us a welcome (to Goodison Park) – we have to understand they can voice their opinion. And their opinions were right today.

“The players have to accept that the fans have a right to voice their opinions – and again they were right today.

“What was important was the fans go over to the fans. They have travelled down, they have to go over. The players, albeit the performance wasn’t good enough, they’re not bad lads and the performance we have to speak about on a footballing level, they’re not bad lads.

“It was a case of going over and coming back off. It’s not a nice moment but sometimes you have to suck it up and be humble that the performance wasn’t good enough. It’s not a moment to clap and cheer, we get that. We’ve had that at other times.

“It’s a moment to go over and show - certainly appreciation is not the word - the fact they’re there and it’s not good enough. Every footballer has gone through those moments, I’ve been there many-a-time and it was important the players went over. The rest was pure emotional, which was understandable at the same time.”